The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

j The steamers FRANK WOODS (foreground) and CHARLES McVEA of the Benton Transit Company at dock in Benton Harbor. The white boat in the back- ground is the EUGENE C.HART. (Photo, courtesy Mrs.Carl Brink) THE BENTON TRANSIT CO. Operating with only three ships over a period of exactly twenty years, The Benton Transit Company carried fruit across Lake Michigan from Ben- ton Herbor to Chicago between 1909 and 1929. A few passengers were also able to be accommodated, but the principal source of business was fruit. Information regarding the three ships follows. BAINBRIDGE, 1922 E.Boothbay, Me. by Rice Brothers. Steel passenger and freight vessel, built on the bottom of the incompleted trawler ARNOLD T.RICE. 139 x 30 x 15. Later ALGOMAH II and ERIE QUEEN. Reported to be lying idle and awaiting scrapping on the east coast. CHARLES MC VEA, 1888 Saugatuck by Brittain, 123 x 41 x 10. Wooden hull. Served as freight and passenger ship in several of the smaller hake Michigan lines, including Benton Transit. Abandoned, 1929. FRANK WOODS, 1888 saugatuck by Brittain. 120 x 26 x 18. Was the regular ship of the B.T.Co fleet for all twenty years of its existence. FRANK WOODS was abandoned near the North Ashland Street bridge on the North Branch of the Chicago River. The Jones & Laughlin Fyeet, continued from first page: COLLIER (ex P.P.MILLER), 1903 Buffalo by Buffalo S.8.Co. for D jnaldson of Buffalo. 361 x 48 x 24. Acquired by J.& L. in 1916 and sold c.1920. Later converted to self-unloader and renamed JOHN McCARTNEY KENNEDY and R.E.MOODY. Scrapped in 1957. ELMORE (ex S.S.CURRY), 1893 W.Bay City, Mich by F.W.Wheeler & Co. 360 x 45 x 21, engines and boilers originally amidships. Later rebuilt as conventional freighter and lengthened to 432 feet. Acquired by J.& L. in 1916 and disposed of shortly afterward. Later P.W.SHERMAN and E.G.MATHIOTT. Scrapped in 1937. B.F.JONES, 1906 Ecorse by Great Lakes Engineering Works. 538 x 56 x 28. Later in Wylson Fleet. Scrapped, due to collision damage, 1957. WILLIS L.KING, 1911 Ecorse, Mich. by Great Lakes Engineering Works. 588 x 58 x 33. Renamed C.L.AUSTIN when taken over by Wilson. Has been sailing in the Kinsman Fleet in recent years. (Continued, bottom of next page)